But again I find myself going back to the same argument which is why would anyone think Square Enix are capable of this sort of thing without fucking it up. This sort of model requires a lot of good will and trust to work (even Valve ballsed it up). Some folks have got it right (Telltales etc) but those are games that rely heavily on stories and choice mechanics.

It's not out of the realms of possibility this could work, I just wouldn't trust Square Enix to do it. I could ask them to make me a cup of tea and they would hand it too another person claiming its exclusive to them and then when I ask for another they would say the first one wasn't popular enough so they won't make another.

Prey wrote:Reminds me of school when I asked to borrow someone's football, said no and then laughed and said ok. Told them to shove it.

They claim it isn't an episodic release because it isn't just about the story. As they are adding in mechanics and stuff like that I would class it more as a Early Access game. Either way I won't be buying a half finished game for £40.

To be fair to Valve they didn't at least ask you to pay all the money up front.

Tank wrote:Also, this is from the people who will have a hand in "remaking" Final Fantasy 7. That could well be the most sobering case of wankers remorse yet.

I still can't get what this even means.

Also, having read the piece through again, I'm feeling more optimistic. It really comes down to how big the "sizeable chunk" that they initially release is and how long they continue to add new levels and features for.

Videos and footage of the closed alpha testing of the new, upcoming Hitman game (easily-titled simply Hitman) have been uploaded to the web by a myriad of players over the past couple of days. It goes without saying, for those who hoped IO Interactive & Square Enix would offer unto us a scorcher of a Hitman game for PC as far as performance and build, well…you might want to divert your attention away for the meantime if you’re interested in the gritty details. For everyone else, glue your eyes firmly to the following array of insightful gameplay offered up by the community.

Yeah, people complaining about lack of textures and dodgy AI? I know there is a precedent in the industry right now for releasing early access alpha builds that are essentially almost polished betas, but if something is in closed alpha what can you really expect from it.

Not just in terms of scope and ambition but also in terms of the size of the game world itself. The playable area and density of our locations goes beyond anything we’ve built before. We’re striving to create a series of living, breathing worlds in those locations and we get pretty obsessed about every detail that you’ll experience.

On top of that, we’re going for a new release model where we put out a good chunk of the game when it begins and then release the remaining locations over time. We want to make absolutely sure you all get the best possible experience when you join, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move the initial release date to March 2016. These few extra months will mean we can add more to the launch content of the game, more than we had originally planned, and then follow with a tighter frequency of updates, which ultimately will create a better game for everyone. And in the end, that’s what we’re all looking for.

HITMAN is scheduled to release on March 11th, 2016. This initial release will include six campaign missions across three locations: Paris, Sapienza, and Marrakesh. Contracts mode will also be a part of the March release, containing “a combined pool of around 800 targets.”The following months will see additional content releases, with one new sandbox map becoming available each month for three months. Thailand will be available in April, the United States in May, and Japan in June. Each sandbox map will also come with new weapons, disguises, signature kills, Contracts targets, and missions. Additional, time-sensitive content is also planned: